Over the years, Mattacheese Middle School in Yarmouth has been the site of many meetings on the Cape Wind project. It will host another Nov. 5 at 6:30 p.m. when the state Department of Environmental Protection will hold a public hearing on the company’s application for a Chapter 91 waterways license.

The hearing is focused on the state waters through which the cables to the 130-turbine array on Horseshoe Shoal would pass, and does not cover the wind farm itself. If history is a guide, that won’t stop any number of people from commenting on it anyway.

The comment period for the license ends Nov. 24. Written remarks may be mailed to Alex Strysky, DEP Waterways Program, One Winter St., Fifth Floor, Boston MA 02108 or by e-mail to
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If Cape Wind’s request to the state Energy Facilties Siting Board for a comprehensive permit is successful, the waterways license would be rolled up into that permit. The EFSB will hold hearings next month in Boston.

Blue H wants to scale up

Blue H, the company whose American subsidiary wants to build the country’s first floating deepwater wind energy structure far off the Massachusetts shore, has announced plans for its first full-scale (3.5 megawatt) platform, which is to be built off the coast of France.

The Blue H press release carried one nugget about the American project: its code name is Belinda. We assume the French counterpart will be Michelle?

Planning over the bounding main

Members of the state Ocean Advisory Commission drew a tiny audience for a listening session at Cape Cod Community College Oct. 20. And though they made it clear that the group helping to plot a management plan for offshore resources has no sway over the Cape Wind project, not a few public comments were directed to the project.

“We can see the disaster that happens if you make it up as you go along, as you… see with Cape Wind,” said state Rep. Sarah Peake, who represents the Lower Cape.

Susan Nickerson, executive director of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, a project foe, asked the Commission to “safeguard against Cape Wind syndrome,” which she defined as a “developer-driven approach.”

Jim Liedell, a director of project advocate Clean Power Now, stressed the role of renewable energy development offshore in protecting citizens’ health by allowing closure of fossil-fuel plants. He said offshore winds allow much greater velocity than those that blow over the land.

Cat Helms of West Yarmouth presented a pretty picture of walking with her cat down to Lewis Bay to enjoy the beach grass and water. That idyll, she said, will be spoiled by Cape Wind, and she asked the Commission to ensure that “the people of the community” are part of the process.

Cummaquid’s Chris Powicki of the Cape & Islands Renewable Energy Collaborative described the Cape’s “abundant offshore renewable energy base” and urged that the planning process in federal and state waters be “driven by aggressive goals for our energy future” and be “truly transparent and community-based.”